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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23174182">There is nothing wrong with Derry Maine</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/geicogecko/pseuds/geicogecko'>geicogecko</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe, Basically Derry is weird and "perfect" and everyone needs to follow Rules, F/M, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Richie finds something out and then things go bad v quick</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 14:42:09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,813</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23174182</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/geicogecko/pseuds/geicogecko</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Derry Maine is the perfect town.<br/>No one leaves.<br/>The Losers Club doesn't fit, but they hide, no one can see them break the Rules in their underground clubhouse and everything is okay.<br/>Well... until Richie Tozier sees something he shouldn't and goes missing for two weeks.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Ben Hanscom/Beverly Marsh, Bill Denbrough/Mike Hanlon, Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier/Stanley Uris</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>31</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Don't look behind the curtain- you won't like what you find</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>
    <span>There is nothing wrong with Derry Maine.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span> It's a perfect place of perfect people and a list of Rules a mile long posted all across town. There is a town wide curfew for 9 PM. </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>No one who moves to Derry quite remembers their life before, not that many do, the Hanscom boy is the New Kid and has been for the past 4 years.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>No one leaves Derry. But they die there, oh boy do they die there. </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Derry Maine has the highest death rate of any place in America, not that anyone has a frame of reference for what happens in other towns. Instead they ignore the bodies that show up weekly and forget about the children who go missing. It's a Rule. </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>There is something </span>
  </em>
  <b>
    <em>wrong</em>
  </b>
  <em>
    <span> with Derry Maine. If someone managed to pull back the curtain they’d possibly find that someone else is pulling the strings. </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>But no one tries to look beyond the surface in Derry, why would they? </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>They followed the Rules and everything was Perfect.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>The Losers club wasn’t perfect, they didn’t fit into what Derry was supposed to be, that is why they all fit together. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The black boy, the fat boy, the jewish boy, the stuttering boy with the dead baby brother, the boy who was always sick, the trashmouth, and the slut.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They built a clubhouse underground in the woods they weren't supposed to enter and broke Rules and were able to be themselves.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>(Underground no one could see when the black boy silences the other’s stutter with a teasing kiss. No one was privy to the soft looks between the fat boy and the ginger girl, none the wiser to how she plays with his hair and he writes her poems. No one watched as the funny boy with messy black hair and crooked teeth and the fiery asthmatic squish the blushing cheeks of the Jewish boy with matching kisses as he fails to maintain his composure and falls into giggles.)</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They hang out in each other's homes as well, often Richie’s sometime’s Stan’s, Mike’s, and Ben’s, never Eddie’s or Bev’s. They used to always go to Bill’s, but since last summer they haven’t been back.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Their last normal day is spent in Stan’s basement, a rainy June night of subded fun and simple comfort of being in each other's presence.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Beverly wiggles her eyebrows and drags a flushed Ben out at 7, claiming a need for some “alone time” before curfew, the remaining five tamp down their jealousy at the two having the only relationship not expressly against the Rules. But they know Ben doesn’t fit into the mold Derry wants and that it doesn’t matter that she’s dating a boy when Bev goes home so they tend to air more towards being happy for their friends.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>At 8:30 Bill walks Mike home, he lives  the farthest away at a farm and it's a gamble if Bill will make it back to his own house after escorting him in time for curfew, but his parents don’t care, not since his brother, and regardless Bill always slips in just on time.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Richie waits until only Stan, Eddie, and him are alone to reveal something that's been permeating his thoughts all day, looking more serious than the other two have ever seen him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I… I found something last night.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What’d you find?” Stan, looking around quickly to guarantee they’re alone, he reaches for Richie’s hand and squeezes, running his thumb across the back of it as Richie steadies himself.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I stayed out too late last night, missed curfew, and well… It's sort of hard to explain… I… we all know there's something </span>
  <em>
    <span>off </span>
  </em>
  <span>about Derry. There’s a reason no one ever leaves, that there's a curfew, what happened last year to Georgie Denbrough and everyone else... I-I think I know what it is.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Boys it’s almost 9!” Mrs. Uris interrupts loudly from upstairs and Stan yanks his hand back like it was burnt. Richie rolls his eyes as Eddie begins to hurriedly pack his things, still listening to him but rushing to get home in time. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I… I just need to check something out. Meet at the Quarry tomorrow? I’ll explain more then.” They both nod and there's a moment where they all stare at each other, like they're waiting for someone to make a move before Richie pulls them into a three person hug with a grin. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m on to something, I know it! Please don’t tell anyone else okay?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Boys!</span>
  </em>
  <span>” Mrs Uris calls again and they break apart.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The last time Stanley Uris sees Richie Tozier that night he’s trooping up his stairs backwards, shooting him finger guns with a conspiratorial wink.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The last time Eddie Kaspbrak sees Richie Tozier that night he’s biking the opposite way on the street, calling over his shoulder “</span>
  <em>
    <span>See you tomorrow Spaghetti!</span>
  </em>
  <span>”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Both ignore how something nervous and uncomfortable settles in their stomach as they watch him leave.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Richie Tozier goes missing for two weeks and comes back different. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He never tells them what he found.</span>
</p><p>
  <strong>-</strong>
</p><p>
  <span>They look for him in the same places they looked for Bill’s little brother, abandoned homes and sewers and deep in the woods. It’s 14 days of filthy, panicked searching, when Beverly spots him, walking right down mainstreet like nothing is wrong, trailing behind his mother.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Richie!</span>
  </em>
  <span>” She calls excitedly, dragging Bill and Mike with her across the busy sidewalk, not that the two of them put up much resistance.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He starts at the shout of his name and turns quickly, glassy eyed with a confused smile.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hello? Oof!” Bev tackles him into a hug and instead of pushing back into it like he normally would he pulls away quickly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Beverly what on </span>
  <em>
    <span>Earth</span>
  </em>
  <span> are you doing?” She cocks her head, glancing back to Mike and Bill who share matching confusion plastered across their faces, before really taking a look at her friend.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He doesn’t look like Richie is supposed to.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>His frizzy, unkempt tangles are tamed into neatly coiled curls, glasses are perfectly clean, hawaiin shirt and cargo cutoffs swapped for a light blue sweater and neatly cuffed jean shorts, his immaculate white sneakers are double knotted.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“W-where’ve you </span>
  <em>
    <span>b-b-been</span>
  </em>
  <span> Rich?” Bill asks nervously, their friend’s disappearance had affected all of them but it had messed with Bill differently, they all prayed for his sake it wouldn’t be a new Georgie.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What do you mean?” He cocks his head in confusion, wringing his hands. He looks… timid and small and so not Richie it's unsettling.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Dude you’ve been missing!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No I haven’t!” He defends perplexed and the other three tense. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You… let's go to the clubhouse Rich.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Isn’t that in the woods?” At their worried nods his eyes widen and he bites his lip hard, “That's against the Rules, I don’t think we should.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Since when do you care?” Mike tries, hoping for a snarky retaliation that shows him that this is actually Richie, because Richie was the idiot who thought it was cool that he’d beaten Bev and almost gotten arrested in their competition on who could break the most Rules before getting caught. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Richard! We need to go!</span>
  </em>
  <span>” Maggie Tozier rerounds the corner, eyes stormy and face pinched, which makes the other three present Losers freeze.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Because Maggie Tozier was warm and kind, she would sneak them cookies when they weren't supposed to have them and turned a blind eye to their obvious Rule breaking. She was funny and a little sloppy and the kind of woman PTA moms gossiped about.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Now she was wound tightly, the same angry intensity as the rest of the Derry adults, same high necked blouse, pearls, and pencil skirt as the cookie cutter women she used to tease under her breath.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Richie </span>
  <em>
    <span>flinches </span>
  </em>
  <span>and squeaks out a timid “Yes Mother, I’m sorry!”, letting her grip his wrist and yank him away.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What the fuck was that?” Bev asks, voice more scared than she ever liked to show.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I think we should go talk to everyone else.” Mike adds shakily and the three sneak into the woods, the quivering Derry-Doll Richie sticking to the forefront of their minds. The walk is silent.</span>
</p><p>
  <strong>-</strong>
</p><p>
  <span>“What the fuck do you mean?!” Eddie was pacing the length of the clubhouse, periodically puffing his inhaler, they’d given up trying to get him to sit down.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“H-he wasn’t acting like R-r-richie, he sounded scared. And his m-m-mom was d-d-different too.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And he looked different, we’ve been over this guys, he had Richie’s face and glasses but it wasn’t fucking him! He was all… small and pastel and shit! It wasn’t Richie and if it was something bad happened.” Bev snapped, she was chain smoking a pack of cigarettes, they could tell she was upset even as she cooly blew smoke from her lips, she never smoked this much unless something was eating away at her, the only difference was that </span>
  <em>
    <span>usually</span>
  </em>
  <span> Richie helped. (No one protested them stinking up the club house, at least not anymore even though Eddie had held out for a while, there is a Rule that women and children aren’t allowed to smoke and underground was the only place that they could do it).</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That doesn’t make any </span>
  <em>
    <span>sense</span>
  </em>
  <span>!” Stan cries, tugging nervously at his hair, “I’m going to go check on him tomorrow.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ben shifted in his seated position on the floor.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are you guys sure he didn’t say anything before he went missing? I don’t know this seems weird!” Stan and Eddie share a look, one of Richie’s last statements hanging heavily over them </span>
  <em>
    <span>Please don’t tell anyone else okay?</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>“Its Derry of course it's fucking </span>
  <em>
    <span>weird</span>
  </em>
  <span>!” Eddie snaps, the stress of an already weird situation bubbling tension higher than it’d been even when Richie had been unaccounted for. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“L-l-look Eds-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>call me that</span>
  </em>
  <span>! Come on Stan lets go check on him right </span>
  <em>
    <span>fucking</span>
  </em>
  <span> now.”</span>
</p><p>
  <strong>-</strong>
</p><p>
  <span>“Richard is studying in his room. Maybe you boys should go home.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Richie didn’t need to study, he was smart enough, and anyway he could never focus alone, always said it was too quiet. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maggie Tozier had never turned them away before.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The other Losers were right, something was </span>
  <em>
    <span>wrong.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Eddie and Stan climbed the tree outside Richie’s room and knocked on his window. He looked up at them wide eyed and Stan almost lost his footing. They hadn’t quite believed their friends but with the evidence right in front of them they couldn’t deny it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He slowly made his way to the window, sliding it open with shaky hands.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why are you here? I’m studying and I can’t have visitors.” They ignored him and tumbled in, Eddie pulling him into a tight hug he didn’t return. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Edward this is hardly appropriate!” He hissed under his breath anxiously looking between them and his closed door.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What happened Rich?” Stan stated absently, focusing instead on Richie’s rolled up sweater sleeves and the bruises darkly around his wrists and peeking from the few exposed inches of his left upper arm. Richie yanked himself away, pushing his sleeves down and straightening the cuffs.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I think you should go.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Rich we’re not-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Richard last time I heard, studying didn’t make noise! Do I need to come up there?</span>
  </em>
  <span>” Richie folded in on himself, too small.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Leave? Please.”</span>
</p><p>
  <strong>-</strong>
</p><p>
  <span>They try to talk to Richie after school (he is far too focused and anxious to look away from the teacher in class now, it's </span>
  <em>
    <span>so wrong</span>
  </em>
  <span>) but it seems all he does is chores and studying. He avoids Stan and Eddie like the plague even if he’s willing to at least make small talk with the other Losers.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Eddie waits until he sees Maggie Tozier’s car pull out of the driveway to go to the grocery store (She was a stay at home mom now. She used to own her own Flower Shop) and sneaks in.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Richie is doing dishes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Eddie, why are you here?” He sighs, not turning around. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Richie you need to </span>
  <em>
    <span>talk to us.</span>
  </em>
  <span> What </span>
  <em>
    <span>happened</span>
  </em>
  <span> to you?” Richie’s light green shirt is buttoned to the very top button and tucked into pale blue overalls, his white sneakers are still perfectly maintained. Its fucking </span>
  <em>
    <span>wrong</span>
  </em>
  <span>, Richie has never buttoned a shirt all the way once in his life and teased anyone over the age of 6 who wore overalls. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nothing happened to me Eddie. I need to do my chores.” Eddie grabbed his shoulder, spinning him around to face him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Baby</span>
  </em>
  <span>, what did you find that night?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What do you-” He starts to shake, his eyes blinking so fast and hard it looks like it hurts, “Eddie? I need... They… </span>
  <em>
    <span>help</span>
  </em>
  <span> they’re going to-” and then he yelps, snatching his hand that remained in the sink back, the plate he’d been washing shatters as he drops it. He resolutely shakes his head once and cradles a now red hand, Eddie grabs it looking from his boyfriend’s burnt hand to his now timid face (are they still boyfriends? Eddie doesn't know what to think, not with Richie acting so strangely).</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh oops! I must have turned the water heat too high! What were you saying Eddie?” Eddie feels like he’s going to throw up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Please come with us to the Quarry tomorrow.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know if I should-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We won’t break any rules or do anything bad. I just want to hang out with you Rich, we all do.” Richie hesitates, something </span>
  <em>
    <span>real</span>
  </em>
  <span> flashing in his eyes for a moment.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay. I’ll see what I can do.” And he kneels down to scoop up the bits of broken china, worrying under his breath about <em>what his mother would say</em>.</span>
</p><p>
  <strong>-</strong>
</p><p>
  <span>Robert Gray turns down the water heat in the Tozier household. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Perhaps the boy had been more trouble than he was worth.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But he was fascinating, the only one who had come that close to seeing the truth. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was fun, breaking him, making him into someone who could never stick his nose where it didn’t belong again. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Because, of course, there is nothing wrong with Derry Maine.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Floating</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The Losers hang out at the quarry</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>When the Losers trek over to the quarry only a few minutes late from the pre arranged meeting time Richie is already seated at the bank, knees drawn up to his chin and sweater sleeves tugged over his hands. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He looks too small and after what Stan told them he and Eddie saw on his arms they’re wary of his sudden obsession with long sleeves, but he grins at them (too tight but more real than the close lipped smiles they’ve been given in a while) when he sees them crest the hill.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I was worried you weren't coming! Another two minutes and you would have </span>
  <em>
    <span>broken Rule Number 99</span>
  </em>
  <span> but… I would have waited.” He whispers the last part like it's particularly daring and it makes something deep down </span>
  <em>
    <span>ache</span>
  </em>
  <span> in each of the Losers.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey Rich, how’re you doing?” Ben asks hesitantly, sitting next to him, Ben seems to be the one Richie finds the safest to talk to, but then again Ben is the best at following the Rules.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m doing well Benjamin, thank you for asking! How are you?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Good, good… It's Ben, Richie, remember?” He nods sheepishly and looks up at the others who are clearly trying not to act as if anything is off and failing miserably. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s good to see you Richie!” Eddie pipes, hoping their conversation the day before had broken through the barrier that had been placed between him and Stan and the youngest member of their trio. To his absolute dismay Richie’s head snaps to his lap and lets out a soft ‘</span>
  <em>
    <span>Hello Eddie</span>
  </em>
  <span>’ as he puts all his focus on straightening his socks. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey babe, what do you want to do today?” Bev asks, laying her hand gently on his knee and trying not to look hurt as he slides away.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m not sure, we could-” he stalls, blinking quickly like he’s trying to think of something that has been erased from his mind, “I’m so sorry I can’t think of anything?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Richie is always full of ideas, his hestitance is a sobering reminder of the two week disappearance hanging over his head that he still refused to talk about.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We could go swimming?” Mike offers and Richie’s eyes brighten before clouding up again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Jumping off the quarry is against the Rules.” His speaking is practically robotic and there's an awkward moment of silence when Bill offers “W-we don’t need to jump!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But Beverly can’t undress-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I can leave my clothes on.” She adds tightly, Richie's excited smile tamping down any annoyance at his sudden sexist Rule following. She has a feeling it's not his fault anyway.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay then!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>So they go swimming, Beverly looks uncomfortable in her wet clothes but Richie is acting more like Richie than he has in days. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He leaves on his undershirt and shorts, neatly folding his sweater and socks next to Stan’s organized pile, and they try not to stare at the bruises around his wrists and up his arms. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>At one point as he’s swimming his shirt rides up and Ben notices </span>
  <em>
    <span>something</span>
  </em>
  <span> gouged deep and blackened on his side, he doesn’t bring it up, instead sinking below the water until the tears he can’t push down drain into the quarry water.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They can’t convince him to play chicken but they’re content to have splash fights and swim around.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mike swipes a wall of water over Richie's head and he </span>
  <em>
    <span>cackles</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The Losers fall silent. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Richie notices after a moment as his giggles slow and he grows small again, like he did something wrong. Like they’re going to hit him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Instead Stan tackles him into a hug, laughing brightly, and even though Richie pulls away from him he can’t find it in himself to </span>
  <em>
    <span>care </span>
  </em>
  <span>because it’s been far too long since any of them have heard a Richie Laugh.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>No one quite realized how much they needed Richie’s laughter, how much it held together the Losers Club.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Soon he’s being dogpiled in the water, he can’t pull away from all the Losers so he relaxes into Ben’s hold and laughs again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>After a while they pull themselves out of the water, laying in the grass to dry in the sun. Richie pulls on his sweater immediately, even though it's clear the wet knitted material clinging to his skin is annoying him. The silence they’re laying in slowly becomes less comfortable. Bill, unable to take it, finally broaches the topic they’ve all begun to think about.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What hap-p-pened, Richie.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What do you mean William? Bill. Sorry… Bill.” Bill winces, falling silent at the deflection, but Richie isn’t shutting them out as hard as he had before so instead Stan takes over.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Richie, you went missing for 2 weeks, you're acting differently. You need to let us know so we can help bab- Rich.” Eddie grabs his hand as he chokes on the pet name.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I… I didn’t go missing. I’m not acting differently. What are you talking about?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Richie, please.” Stan’s voice is shaky, like he’s trying not to cry and Richie flinches.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m just following the Rules, Stan. It’s easier that way.” </span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span>“But you don’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>need to</span>
  </em>
  <span>! Richie it's so much better when you actually do what you </span>
  <em>
    <span>want to</span>
  </em>
  <span>!” Eddie finally snaps, sitting up and grabbing Richie’s wrist, not letting him pull away. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Eddie... following the Rules… it’s really not bad all the time. Sometimes… it feels like floating.” He smiles placatingly up at him, unwrapping Eddie's hand from his wrist, startling as he sees his watch.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh gosh it's 6! I need to get home, goodbye!” His voice has fully slipped back to the cheerful, robotic blankness it had lost while they were swimming and Eddie suddenly bursts into angry, hot tears. Richie freezes, shoulders tense, and turns around, locking eyes with Eddie’s watery ones. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Edward. Boys don’t cry, it's against the Rules.” And he turns back around, ignoring how that makes Eddie sob harder, slight panic propelling each step as he jogs away.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>No one chases after him, Eddie wipes his tears furiously, ripping a handful of grass out of the dirt and chucking it uselessly at Richie’s retreating, blurry, pastel form.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Fuck you!</span>
  </em>
  <span>”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Eddie its not him we can’t-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Exactly</span>
  </em>
  <span>! Stan thats fucking exactly it! Whoever the fuck that is isn’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>Richie</span>
  </em>
  <span>! Our Richie looked for something he shouldn’t and now is probably fucking dead. I want my Richie back but I’m not going to keep humoring this fucking </span>
  <em>
    <span>faker</span>
  </em>
  <span>!” He’s wheezing by the end of his rant and Stan scrambles for his fanny pack, he yanks it away before Stan can find his inhaler for him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m going home. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Fuck this</span>
  </em>
  <span>!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Stan goes to follow him but Bill grabs his wrist and shakes his head.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What did he mean? Looked for something he shouldn’t?” Bev asks sharply, and Stan bites his lip hard.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He… he said he found something. The night he went missing he told me and Eddie he missed curfew and saw something, wouldn’t tell us what. He asked us not to tell.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You didn’t fucking think that was important to share with us when we were looking?” Bev’s voice is quivering with sudden fury but Ben lays a hand on her arm mouthing </span>
  <em>
    <span>not right now</span>
  </em>
  <span> as Stan begins to tug on his curls with shaky hands, looking like he’s trying desperately to stop himself from sobbing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Staring blankly into the quarry he plops to the ground, not reacting as Bev wraps him in a damp, slightly apologetic but still angry hug or saying much as the rest of the Losers leave him to his solitude.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He watches the birds. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He tries to forget Eddie’s fury at their </span>
  <em>
    <span>boyfriend</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He tries to hold onto Richie’s real laugh from today even though all of a sudden it’s slipping away.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He tries to make sense of Richie’s confession, the last second of semi-clarity before everything went to shit but he can’t, it doesn’t make sense. He turns the phrase </span>
  <em>
    <span>It feels like floating </span>
  </em>
  <span>over in his mind until it grows dark.</span>
</p><p>
  <strong>-</strong>
</p><p>
  <span>That night Beverly Marsh skips curfew. She smokes a full pack of cigarettes and walks the woods trying to find whatever the fuck it was her best friend saw to make him turn into a goddamn puppet.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She wants to know who is pulling his newly attached strings.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She finds more than she expected and comes out covered in another boy's blood.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Alvin Marsh gets an anonymous call telling him his daughter spent the night Rule breaking (Breaking Curfew, Smoking Cigarettes, Walking in the Woods, but that's all the charges) and he catches her as she tries to sneak back in. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>When he eventually leaves her crumpled on the floor she scrambles to the bathroom and tries to call Ben to pick her up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Someone blocks the line but Beverly Marsh does not go missing. </span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>This is a way shorter chapter (sorry about that) but a lot of things are about to happen so its important I promise, I know the end is really vauge but what Bev found will be clarified soon I promise</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I'm gonna be straight with you, I do not know what this is or how often I'll update or if anyone will read this but I can't get this idea out of my head and I wanted to write it.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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